All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
Review: Nokia X6 16GB - part 2 (software and summary)
Published by Steve Litchfield at 8:00 UTC, May 18th 2010
Summary:
In part 1 of my Nokia X6 16GB review (that's the Nokia X6-00, officially), I looked at its hardware and general performance. The latter also applies to this, part 2 (of 2), of course, as I look at the X6's software and interface, before summing the device up. Is it just a 5800 upgrade? Or a stepping stone to newer devices like the Nokia N8?
The mismatched Music player
I mentioned in part 1 of this review that here we have what is essentially an updated Nokia 5800. This, being one of Nokia's biggest sellers, has received at least six major firmware updates in the last 16 months, with the current v50 firmware essentially matching v20 here on the X6.
As Ewan noted in part 2 of his review of the X6 32GB (note that the bits about performance have largely been fixed or explained now), there are some oddities. The N97's v20 firmware Music player (i.e. the next generation version) has been used, but without a keyboard on the X6, there's no way to type in characters in order to quick-match track, artist or album names. And there's no 'Find' function on the menu, leaving X6 owners potentially high and dry. Having said that, if you tend to play your music album by album (like me) then this might not be something you need. With a reduced capacity of 16GB for all your music, videos, apps, photos and so on, you probably won't be losing music very often.
So you get to 'Find' in the online music store (left), but not within your own local collection? Madness.
Talking of capacity, it should be understood right up front that the X6 16GB has no microSD card slot - the mass memory is all you get, aside from about 330MB of flash memory on the system (C) disk. The overall capacity isn't hugely limiting but remember that there's going to be no way to swap cards in order to take media off the X6 and onto another device or computer - such transfers all have to be done over Bluetooth or USB.
S60 5th Edition, kinetic edition
The belated introduction of full kinetic scrolling to the Nokia N97 in Autumn last year marked something of a watershed for the platform. From being 'clunky and awkward', the platform became simply 'quirky'. There's now as much animated touchscreen life in S60 5th Edition as in most other touch platforms, if not more, with any bottlenecks being down to the user interface paradigm used. Most of the X6's software is now very familiar - all the usual S60 5th Edition pros and cons are present and correct:
Pros:
- Free voice-guided Ovi Maps navigation, worldwide, forever. Whatever your views on Ovi Maps, this is still nothing short of a game changer.
- Podcasting. As I've often mentioned, one of Nokia's software gems. Once set up, it'll change your life.
- Flash-enabled Web browser.
- Over the air firmware and application updating, with no data loss.
- Good file management (not only using File manager, but also the way folders are handled, and noting the new way that Bluetooth-beamed objects are handled (saved directly to a folder on the mass memory).
- Great connectivity (e.g. Bluetooth compatibility). Yes, you still have to acknowledge some initial requests to go 'online', but being pay-as-you-go-based, I for one actually appreciate these as a genuine attempt by Nokia to save people money.
- Good software load-out, out of the box (some of which is mentioned below).
Cons:
- Single/double-tap confusion for new users, the split of functions between menus, pop-up dialogs and on-screen buttons, etc. It's largely logical, from an engineering standpoint, but there are many instances where it could be a lot more 'intelligent'.
- Confusing Settings hierarchy. Better than it used to be, but why the heck is Sync buried so many levels down, for example?
- Ovi Store is WRT-based and, as a result, slow and cumbersome. Ditto Facebook and many other semi-official widgets. Core functions like these really deserve Symbian native applications.
Dictionary is now standard in S60, Quickoffice is viewers only (but upgradable), left; Gallery shows images and videos together (right)
For the average smartphone user, the X6 will work out just fine though. 'Set up email' on the homescreen resolves to the setup wizard for the standard S60 Messaging client - this works well enough for casual use, but can't handle 'rich' HTML email properly. Nokia Messaging, the newer server-based email aggregator, is there in 'Sw update', for installing if the user feels the need to take email to the next level. And with that huge internal (C) disk, Nokia Messaging will have plenty of room to stretch its legs (and database) - so often the culprit when it misbehaves on other, lesser phones.
Homescreen bouquets
New for the latest S60 5th Edition devices is this contact carousel on the homescreen. This was introduced first as an option for the 5800, but you had to sacrifice your other homescreen functions in order to have it, and you only had four contacts shown. With this new version, the carousel can hold dozens of contacts, while homescreen information (e.g. upcoming Calendar appointments), music control and four application shortcuts are all shown below. Swipe to scroll through the contacts and then tap on one to bring up shortcuts to various ways to contact them, including an abbreviated history of recent communications with them (e.g. texts, calls). (Note that v40 firmware on the 5800 also brought this functionality to the older device.)
The system actually works very well, with the only caveat being that the event handling for swipes on the capacitive touchscreen doesn't seem to be fully optimised yet - remember that this is Nokia's first try at a device with capacitive touch and real world finger contacts have a very different 'pattern' than those executed by a stylus or fingernail on a resistive screen. The end result is that some swipes get missed - or at least misinterpreted. I'd hope that the code for handling gestures would be significantly tightened up for the next firmware update.
Text entry
Qwerty text entry on the 3.2" touchscreen remains something of a challenge, seeing as Nokia still hasn't implemented any kind of word completion or correction - the X6 suffers in this regard, as did the 5800/5230 (and to an even greater degree , the 5530) compared to just about every other touchscreen smartphone on every other platform. Typing speeds (with two thumbs) can be improved slightly to about 20 words per minute, with care, by turning on the 'touchscreen tones' in your chosen profile (level 1 is enough to get enough effect) - with the haptic vibrations as well, there's then enough feedback to type accurately at least some of the time.
Much of the time, it's just as fast to stay in the (portrait) predictive text/keypad mode, tapping away with one thumb as you would on a traditional 'phone'. This works surprisingly well, even if it's not as 'geeky'(!)
Free RAM isn't as impressive as the internal flash capacity. Just 50MB free after booting means that the X6 is in the same boat as the 5800, N97 and other S60 5th Edition smartphones. Though RAM-management has been significantly optimised in recent months, anyone pushing the boundaries (e.g. Web, Gravity and Nokia Messaging all open, all the time) will hit the buffers at some point. Again though, to be fair, this isn't really the target user for the X6.
Games
It continues to amaze me how few games are written in C++ for 'native' Symbian - the X6 comes bundled with three Java games, none of which is remotely close to stunning. Now that N-Gage is dead, is Java all there now is, in terms of games titles? 'Asphalt 4' is a primitive version with left/right taps needed on the screen and no accelerometer support, 'DJ Mix Tour' is a 'match the falling lights to the rhythm of the tune' game and fails to satisfy by not being smooth enough in terms of timing (again, Java's performance is the issue here), while 'Spore' is a graphically minimalist Java port of the EA original. The screens will give you an idea of each:
Clumsy and ugly bundled games - surely there are better titles in the Symbian world that you could have licensed, Nokia? Signing up one of the Zingmagic titles or contacting Botond.FM would have been a good start...
The biggest (unexpected0 disappointment in the application set was the continued omission in recent S60 5th Edition devices of Epocware's Zip Manager, essential for unpacking zipped applications that you might want to grab on the Web. Or maybe it's just me that wants to do this? In fact, Zip Manager, which was available at first for the 5800 (via Download!), is now not around for this device either, which is mightily strange. Maybe some huge technical flaw was found, but I'd like to know the story, one way or the other!
Summary
There's a lot to like about the X6 16GB (or X6-00, as Nokia like to call it). The overall form factor is a perfect compromise of size versus function - it's great as a phone. And, yes, you can enter text using virtual T9 faster than you could on some physical keypads. The screen's gorgeous in most (though not all) light conditions, the capacitive touch delights and those speakers are just insane - for a phone. You can clearly see the X6-00 aimed at music-loving 15-to-25s, for whom it'll rock everyone's socks off.
Where the 16GB version of the X6 doesn't succeed is in appealing to those with a little more tech knowledge and experience. At first sight, the thought of a capacitive touchscreen, on Symbian, at long last is hugely appealing. And you can add the free Ovi Maps navigation and, yes, those superb speakers for playing podcasts. But the true geek will have issues. Free RAM is still too low (the N8 looks like being the upcoming point at which Nokia catches up to the competition here) for power users, the screen's just that little bit too small for half-serious web browsing and virtual typing, the camera's ultimately disappointing (sub N95 quality, circa 2007), despite the megapixel count, and the lack of a microSD slot gives a distinct lack of freedom when considering sharing documents and media around.
I do like the device at the end of the day - I like it quite a lot. The part of me that wants to concentrate on audio and telephony rejoices that at last there's a Nokia touchscreen S60 phone with a really responsive display. But then reality hits home and I realise that the wide gamut of things I want my all-in-one smartphone to do just can't be done on the diminutive-but-surprisingly cute X6-00.
Your mileage may vary!
Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 20 May 2010
Review Discussion
I found the device to be supremely capable and practical. Coming straight from a 'old skool' 6210 navigator,I have to report that things like searching for contacts and speed dialling were more long-winded, but that is true for all pure touch-screen devices I have tried.
The touch keyboard is cramped and not best for people who need to type a lot. I was fine because I mainly use my device for browsing, phoning and taking pictures. I too was a bit disappointed with the camera, although it is way better than iphone for stills. You do need to spend some time getting used to it.
I had a screen failure (v unusual from what I can see; the bottom 1cm of the screen became unresponsive unless the phone was very warm or in landscape mode) so I used the opportunity to upgrade to an N900.
In some ways I still miss that X6; it's small with a big clear and bright screen. It browses really well, has a good camera with superb flash (that you can use as a torch with a free app) and has very good battery life (for a touchscreen media phone) It's rugged, reliable and has plenty of apps to customise. It plays music really well, has a good podcast client and handles emails, texts , facebook and twitter really well. Best of all it is a really good PHONE.
The biggest disappointment for me was that dust could be seen under the glass screen within days. My local nokia service centre can clear this out for a few quid (they did not recognise this as a warranty issue) but the best way to prevent this is to keep the X6 in a leather pouch rather than straight in the pocket. Oh, and get a silicone jacket to protect the soft plastic case from scratches and improve grip.
There are only a few phones I'd swap my N900 for now and the X6 is the only touchscreen device amongst them. I still favour it over my wife's N97 Mini and that has a 'real' keyboard - the Nokia X6 really is that good in my opinion :)
At least my N97 mini has AutoCompletion, but it is very well hidden. :)
You need to be in a open editor with HW keyboard open and T9 active. Then select Options->Input options->Settings->AutoCompletion (I am using English as UI Language, so the actual names of the setting items might be different).
Nokia desperately their new platform phones out in the marketplace and symbian even more desperately needs it if it is to avoid becoming an OS backwater.
Quick example in last weekend`s Telegraph magazine they talked about the HTC Desire being not only as good as an iPhone on paper but being one of the first phones to begin to match the user experience(incidentally only 5 pounds a month more on contract than an X6, no comp and that`s without considering the new HTC wildfire which is going to kill on price). I was reading a financial website yesterday which was talking about how apple and the ipad were scoring a big success and how important mobilke computing had become and that Google`s android was becoming a major rival to Apple and what microsoft`s response had been` but not one mention of symbian. No I know everyone points out shipped volume but symbian is rapidly becoming an irrelevance and given that Nokia don`t have one highend consumer oriented (rules out N900) phone on the market and haven`t had for 6 months and don`t look to have for another 6 months (the N8 is clearly aimed mid market) is it really surprising that nokia and Symbian can`t get any column inches. It`s pretty apparent that Samsung have effectively dropped and Sony look as if they might have too (indeed tacit admission was made on this site by a Symbian employee when talking about S^3 and saying he felt it would make Samsung and sony look again at symbian).
Nokia need new products and a new OS and a new look and feel to that OS and they need it now and frankly if they`re finding it so tough to make symbian work in a way that is appealing to consumers then they`re better off dropping it. as they`re stuck again being the only company developing on symbian. While they`ve been fooling around making symbian open sourece but not actually getting any real improvements to the market Android has come along and stolen their thunder let`s count the number of Android devices (and cost levels) versus symbian devices this year.
I`ve said repeatedly here that Nokia and symbian keep promising wonders in the future but that record has been playing for 2 years now and there`s been no delivery (hence Nokia`s recent poor results) by the time the wonder that is S^4 finally appears the game could very well be over.
The X6 simply doesn`t stand up to available android and others choices and it isn`t even that good value.
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Originally Posted by snoFlake
But is the X6 better than the HTC legend which is 5 pounds a month cheaper (GBP 20) on contract at Vodafone ?
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Miles worse at others, of course. Legend is stylish and great metal build. Plus Android. Overall, not a clear cut decision, though I agree the X6 could be a bit cheaper.
| Nokia desperately their new platform phones out in the marketplace and symbian even more desperately needs it if it is to avoid becoming an OS backwater. |
| clearly aimed mid market) is it really surprising that nokia and Symbian can`t get any column inches. It`s pretty apparent that Samsung have effectively dropped and Sony look as if they might have too (indeed tacit admission was made on this site by a Symbian employee when talking about S^3 and saying he felt it would make Samsung and sony look again at symbian). |
| I`ve said repeatedly here that Nokia and symbian keep promising wonders in the future but that record has been playing for 2 years now and there`s been no delivery (hence Nokia`s recent poor results) |
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Originally Posted by slitchfield
An OS backwater that has 40% world market share? Not quite a 'backwater' yet, I feel!
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I really hope this will change with the release of Symbian^3 but I doubt it can while Symbian has next to no market presence in the USA and the majority of new software development still comes from Silicon Valley
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Originally Posted by slitchfield
'Poor results'? You did see the Q1 figures that we've been quoting? Sales have been up and up again. Admittedly less top-end flagship sales, but still impressive numbers.
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Come on snoFlake (and others echoing similar sentiments). You're a known Android/iPhone fanboy.
PLEASE can those who like Android/iPhone at least have the character and fairness not to make ridiculous statements like this. Honestly, anyone reading your comments simply can't take you at all seriously - you're making all your future statements into a joke, losing credibility.
Symbian's on the rise, as shown by sales figures, touchscreen market share and so on. Nokia grew market share in the pre-XMas quarter when iPhone was flat, despite it being iPhone's traditional growth quarter.
Just because you have spent money on an iPhone or Android handset, stop thinking and saying ridiculous things about Symbian and Nokia, things different to what proper leading analysts who know what they're talking about say, and things that are completely disproven by every release of analysts market share and sales figures that come out.
You are being driven by the fear that in buying an iPhone/Android handset, you have wasted your money, and that actually Symbian might be better than you thought. Have the guts to admit this to yourselves.
Yes Nokia have stuff to prove, especially with the N8, but it looks AMAZING. Admit this. Admit the truth of the sales figures and market share of Symbian, which is STILL way more successful than it's rivals. And once you've admitted these things, then make your criticisms of Nokia from that point. Not from some fantasy land you live in where Symbian is no longer relevant! LOL :)
My phone - N97.
I own nokia shares. (which incidentally at 7.96 are back within few % of their `09 low`s and even closer to 1998 low of 7.75 meaning that in 12 years stock has made nothing, bear in mind also 2007 high was just over 28.5 euros not so pretty, lucky I bought at 9.5 despite/because of some broker recommendations to sell in Sep2009 because I thought Nokia could turn it round and that they must have new hardware in the pipeline and that their services play would cohere, looks like the brokers were right so far. Do yourself a favour and compare that performance against RIM,Apple,HTC and then try to convince me again there aren`t serious problems)
Funny kind of Nokia hater, android/iphone fanboi.
I bought the stock before I purchased the N97, it would have never been the other way round. If only :D
But why do I have a Nokia phone in my hands??
When a company reaches market saturation - i.e. when growth stalls or flattens - its stock drops. Happened to Nokia 2007, happened to Microsoft in 1999, happened to RIM at the end of 2008, is beginning to happen to Google and will fairly shortly start to happen to Apple. That's just the way it works.
Your real indicators of stability are the ability to sustain a market whilst remaining profitable. Nokia has done this.
I have an X6, it's nice enough but needs a bigger screen and the quirks in Symbian^1 also need to go. I like it because it combines a lot of things I like.
As for the magazines not considering them as smartphones, call me when the analysts don't. That's what matters.
The screen is really good and sensitive, makes a lot of difference that they added kinetic scrolling to the menus. However the screen is rubbish outside in the sun, but then are any of the phones good outside? Maybe LED?
The three major cons are that Nokia have yet again released a phone without sorting out the firmware.
2nd that the OS is appalling; its slow, the user interface is rubbish and things are buried in menus in places that don't make sense.
The third problem is the almost unusable gallery, it is the slowest photo gallery I have seen in a phone! It can take an age to load up the photos and sliding between pics can take a few seconds. I'm no technological wiz kid but I am guessing this is not just down to hardware and CPU speed, ram etc but also down to bad firmware.
If the X6 was graded in hardware to be able to run symbian 3 when it arrives then I would say that this phone could be great.
